Feel the Sting
by RobinNBobin
Summary: Witness the beginning of team WASP as they begin their journey through Beacon. Will they be able to survive it and each other. (This story takes place a year before the main story as the characters are a year ahead of the main cast.)
1. Chapter 1

"Today is the first of my new life in a place where nobody knows me. I mean how likely will it be that somebody has even heard of the Aspen Mining Co Company, we're not as famous the Schnee corporation. It sure colder is than Vacuo though, I need start wearing heavier clothing. Might make nap even cozier, because it has been very soothing these past ten minutes. "Fear not fair maiden for I, Speed Justice have arrived! And I have to aid you in whatever problem you may have in this dreary day of yours!" And there goes my nap, as I open my eyes to see a fop in a top hat shouting at a pissed off gray haired chick who did not seem happy with this loon yelling at her. "Look man stop talking or I will make you stop, and trust me it will not be gentle," says the gray haired chick or grey for short. "Perhaps you can tell me what's troubling you fair maiden so that I, Speed Justice, can provide assistance to whatever is distressing you?!" says the "great" "Speed Justice" which sounds like a bad super hero name.

"Look dumbass you have five seconds before I feed my fist to your face," the grey haired chick said annoyed. I noticed the fuchsia haired chick beside "Speed Justice" immediately check her watch. "Whatever is bothering you that I, Speed Justice can aid you in-" The fop was immediately a solid fist the grey haired chick, after exactly five seconds. This girl is punctual, as the fuchsia girl looked up from her watch as "Speed Justice" is forced into a wall and, in flight, which made a chic looking girl spill her drink onto a blind looking guys pant leg. This was like something from a comedy, but sad at the same, but back to my nap. "Speed Justice is down" are the last I here before I zone out.

I'm brought out of my slumber after this weird hoody kid backed in to me while trying to sweet talk a bunny girl. Just looking at her made it painfully obvious that she did not want to be there. I couldn't tell if the guy was trying to be cheesy or suave, whatever he was trying to achieve by talking to her he was clearly making no progress. Then the ship suddenly hit some turbulence or something, because the wannabe smooth talker just fell on his ass. Seizing the opportunity, the Faunus chick scurried off as the guy picked himself up. "And she's gone, must have come on a bit too strong, aye mate", he said as he looked me. "My name's Panikos Voskós though most people just call me Pan, what's yours?" He asked as he walked over to me. "Walter Aspen, though my friends call me Wasp. It's a pleasure to meet you," I say to the now named would-be smooth talker. "I take it you have better luck when you try to pick up chicks normally?" "Sadly no, that actually went better than it usually goes. Hey are you from around here, I don't think I saw you at Signal," He said now curious.

"Nah, I'm actually from Vacuo. I can't get how you guys can take how cold it is here," I say. My scarf has not done that much to keep me warm. "Yeah, I don't think that vest is doing you much help in that department, you should try something with sleeves," He said as he giggled at his own joke. "On that note of fashion what's up with your hood," I say. "What about it" "Well, why do you have protrusions on the sides?" "Oh, those are my horns," he says as he pulls down his hood to reveal exactly that, a set of Goat horns. "Nice rack," I say as we both burst out laughing. "Good one mate, I need to use that one sometime," Pan says as he makes a mental note. "So what are you doing going to Beacon," He asks me? I shrug at him as I say," I just wanted to be somewhere new." It's a half-truth but the truth nonetheless. "Yeah, I can understand that, always nice to try somewhere that you've never been before. Like a nice little adventure," he says wistfully.

We sat together for the rest of the trip where we just talked about our families and he told me about living in Vale and things to expect. "So just remember to look out for the head teacher Professor Goodwitch, from what I've heard she's a real strict hardass. And that is the last of what I've heard about the professors. I need to go get my stuff and talk to some of my other friends. I'll introduce you sometime, talk to you later man," Pan said as he jogged off. "That is one of the weirdest people I have ever met," I mutter to myself as I walk towards the fountains to find a place to finish my nap. As I settle down beneath a tree, I look over to the docks to see someone who is either very rich or is very important as what I can only assume is a private ship just let off an extremely bored looking girl, and a guy who looks both sharp and sloppy at the same time.

I have to admit that that is pretty impressive. And just as I actually start to finish my nap, as luck would have it, somehow a book falls square on my head, which after what I've seen today seems to fit in perfectly. "I apologize, that's mine." I look up to see a weird guy in a cloak sitting on a branch above me. He hops down next and reaches his arm out. I reach out my own arm to shake his hand, when he moves his away from mine. "No, I just wanted my book back," the cloaked guy said to me deadpanned. "Oh right, here you go, are you going to tell me your name," I ask as he takes the book and puts it into an inside pocket. "No, I don't think that will be all that necessary," he says as he walks off toward the amphitheater for the orientation speech. "I stand corrected, that is the weirdest person I have ever met," I mutter under my breath as I also begin walking towards the amphitheater. And thus I my adventure at Beacon began. Though it would be stranger than I would ever imagine.


	2. Chapter 2

"I have to admit Mate, that was one of the most condescending things I have ever heard," Pan complained. "I mean come on, wasted potential. We have yet to show him anything, what a load of crap." "Yeah, I get what you're saying, but let's see what happens tomorrow with initiation," I try to reason to him. Desperate to change the subject I tell him about the weird guy I met before the assembly. "So let me get this straight: this guy with this huge cloak just dropped his book on your face, apologized then walked away without telling you his name." "Yeah you just perfectly summed up what I just told you, congratulations you have won a prize for most observant person I have ever met," I respond. "No need to get hostile Mate, I just think aloud more often than not. Though I can't say I have ever met a guy like that at Signal, which gives us some options: He could either be from another Kingdom like you or he never went to one one of the academies, which would mean he is either a prodigy or was taught by people in the frontier," Pan stated looking rather proud of himself.

"Sorry to break it to you Pan, but your reasoning there doesn't help us with finding out who this guy is," as I say this I can see the crushed look in Pans eyes as what I said sunk in. "Well thanks for being a party pooper, because you just pooped all over my party. But back on track, we could always just try to look for the guy. I mean how hard can it be to find one person in this crowded room?" "With how short I've known you I can't yet tell if you're being serious or sarcastic," I respond. "And one day you will my friend but that day is not today, so here's the plan; you will start going that way and I will go the other way to see if I can spot that auburn haired guy, and Break," Pan said as he rushed off in what I now realized was the direction of where the girls were sleeping. Pan might die, so I got up and began walking in my directions with my eyes open for the guy when I suddenly heard someone angrily shout: "What the hell are you doing on this side of the room you pervert." That voice now extremely familiar as I turn around to confirm that yes it was that grey haired chick from this morning. Who had punched a guy into a wall, Pan will probably not survive this.

"Look luv, this is all a big misunderstanding. I came over here to try to find some random guy, that my mate had sort of met when the other lad dropped a book on his head. It's really quite simple luv," Pan tried desperately to convince her of his innocence. With just one look at the pissed off grey haired girl, he could tell that his friend needed his help. As he speed-walked over the girl said "Listen you pervert, I have half a mind to just smash your face in right now. And the other half is beginning to agree with it," as she finished saying that her fist was poised to punch Pan right in his face. So I as the great person I am walked over to save him by tapping her on the shoulder. This distraction proved fatal as she elbowed me as she turned around, I instantly regretted going to help him in that moment.

As I lay dazed on the ground, I realized that the girl who had socked me sitting above me. She seemed regretful as she said, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you I was trying to punch that damn perv. Please forgive me." And now the chick looked sad as well as guilty, great. So putting on my best smile, I say to her "It's alright, this happens to me all the time." For some reason she blushed a little, weird. "My name is Walter Aspen but you can just call me Wasp, what's your name?" "Mine name is Ash, well it's Ashley Bolide. It's a pleasure to meet you too, I guess," "Great now that we know each other," I say as she pulls me up, "I would like to introduce you to my buddy Pan-," I finally look around and see that Pan is gone, "and he has vanished, or I guess you could say he _Panished."_ Ash groans deeply at that one, though she did flash a little smile. "That was terrible, but you were trying to find someone right. Maybe I've seen whoever it is," she responds.

I crack a smile as I tell her about the guy I had met earlier that day. "And he just dropped his book on you and didn't even tell you his name, what a dick," Ash says in response. And at that I cracked a smile and began to laugh. "Okay, why are you laughing? You just started out of nowhere and its kind of weird," she says looking uncertain. "No sorry, it's just that today has been just crazy. I mean I saw you punch a guy into a wall," she looks kind of embarrassed when I say that, "I became friends with one of the weirdest Faunus I have ever met, I ran into the weirdest guy who just dropped a book on my head because he was in a tree. And finally, I just saw said new friend about to be punched by the same girl from before. This day was just crazy," I chuckle out. She looks sheepishly around as she says "You saw me punch a guy into a wall, shoot I was hoping you were in another one of the ships. But back to what we were talking about; I can't say I have seen him." "So I am basically back to square one, except now I am down my cowardly partner. But seriously does no one know about this caped dude,"

"Actually," came a brand new voice, "I know exactly who you are talking about." I turn around to see that a new girl had walked up dragging Pan by the back of his shirt. "I mean this caped creep you're talking about he had auburn hair, right," the raven-haired girl said. "Y-yeah, how did you know what we were talking about," I ask her nervously, maybe a little too nervously. I mean that nightgown was a little two low cut for her ahem "assets" which were a little on the big side. "Oh, I'm sorry, you were being a little loud when you were talking to her" she said as she pointed towards Ash, who seemed to be getting a little angry," And I couldn't help over hearing. Your friend was also very eager to tell me more when I asked him," she looked down at Pan who at further inspection seemed to be terrified at his current situation. Noticing me staring at him, the raven-haired girl let him go. He then proceeded to crawl next to me as he slowly got up.

"So who is he then, since you were going to tell us right," I say. "Hmm oh right; the caped guys name is Susanoo, I've known him for a long time actually; you could even say we're childhood friends," she says with a smile that kind of creeped me out. "Okay now that you've told us his name could you tell us yours," Ash asks. "Hmm what do you mean," the girl looks at Ash expectantly. "Well you just came into our conversation and you never introduced yourself at all," Ash said. "Oh I can't tell you that," "And why not," "Because that would ruin the surprise, now I hope you all have a good nights rest," she said over her shoulder as she walked to where I could only assume her bedroll was. "That girl creeps me the hell out," Pan says after he finally regains his voice. "She's just like one of those old ladies in fairy tales, you know the ones feed you a whole lot of sweets and then try to eat you." "You could say that again man. Hey where did you go when I was talking to Ash," I asked. "Oh once you saved me from being mauled by the She-Beast" "Fuck you too" "I craftily escaped in order to not be destroyed, unfortunately for me that chick grabbed me and asked what I was up to. She said that in the most calm, gentle voice that almost made me faint from fear. I was like a mouse about to be eaten by a snake, that level of fear."

"You are the saddest pervert I ever met goat boy, and I don't say that lightly," Ash curtly responded. "Don't call me Goat-Boy, She-Beast. Come on Wasp we can look for whatever his name is later," Pan stated as he dragged me back to where we were sleeping; I waved back and smiled at Ash as she waved back. It was pretty weird seeing the jovial Pan look this angry. "Hey are you okay man," I ask hoping to calm him down a little. "I'm fine, I'm going to bed," He shot back at me. After deciding that there was nothing that I could do to try and calm him back down, I decided why not and tried going to sleep too. It was only as I closed my eyes and began to drift off that I noticed a black cloak in the distance.


	3. Chapter 3

Morning was really awkward. Breakfast wasn't all that pleasant as Pan was still mad about what had happened the night before with Ash. Ash was also still mad at Pan when I met up with her before we entered the locker rooms to get ready for initiation. I found my way back to the locker I was assigned to before we were sent to bed. As I got my Drill gauntlets out, I checked to make sure the cables were all good. "That is a pretty piece of weaponry you got there Mate," Pan said as he approached twirling his shepherds staff. "Thanks man you have a cool weapon on you too, though I can't wait to see how well you can take down a Grimm with a staff" I say as I finish checking the dust compartments for anything wrong. "Well two things my friend, first you haven't seen a proper staff user 'til you've seen me fight; and second this is only half of my weapons," he says as he pulls out a Pan flute. "You have got to be kidding me man; how do you fight with a pipe organ," I say. "You'll see," he muses as he makes sure his pipes are clean. "Ha just wait until you see my drills in action with Dust straight from the Gurren Quarry," I laugh before realizing my mistake. "What was that last part Mate," he looks at me quizzically. "Nothing man, just a joke from back home," god I hate lying, but I don't want to tell the truth right now. I don't want the truth to be what I'm known for, that is why I came here. "You'll have to tell me the rest of the joke after we finish initiation and find out our teams," Pan had finished cleaning his pipes and was playing a little tune. Out of the corner of my eye I can see that a small flower is starting to spin on a tree outside. "What do you mean." Pan stops playing as he responds, "Well from what I've heard teams for our time here at Beacon is usually decided after the initiation, or at least that's what I believe is what it was. I don't really care who I'm on a team with as long as it's not that She-Beast from last night," he finished that last statement with a smirk. And it got awkward again; I look around the locker room hoping something could make it less so. I could see Ash in the distance with what I could safely say had to be a shield. There was the guy who got punched into a wall talking with the fuchsia haired chick again, how a guy could wear a blue top hat and suit was beyond me. The girl then passed the top hat guy what I can only assume to be gauntlets and greaves as she pulls out one of the biggest battle-axes I have ever seen. How can she even lift the damn thing. I see the chic chick from yesterday take out . . . is that a handbag, I can't believe it she fights with a purse. That is odd. I hear the crackle of a loudspeaker go on. "Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately," it then stopped with a slight screech. Pan nudged me as he told me, "Come on man, time to go." I shrug as I put my drills on as I follow him outside.

* * *

This is an amazing view; I think as I gaze over the cliffs. Sky's pretty gray though, probably going to rain later. Hope that this is over before it does; wouldn't want to get too wet, also wouldn't want to fight or find anything in a shower. Because those are some dark clouds, which means probably storm. In front of us were the Headmaster and Head Teacher, who was underneath an umbrella the Headmaster was holding along with his mug of what I can only assume is coffee. The Headmaster began to speak "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." The Head Teacher immediately picked up where he left off; since they probably do this same speech every year. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... **today**." Wow that was fast; pretty sure I just heard some groans of either relief or panic. Eh, who really cares I know like two people here so what are the odds I'll pair up with someone I know. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years. After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you **will** die." I look over at Pan who looks just a tad bit nervous. "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions? **Good**! Now, take your positions," He finishes his speech, and I raise my arms up and put my goggles on as I get ready.

I get pumped waiting for the launch; man why did I choose to be so far down the line. It's going to take forever for me to get launched, dang it. I look up to see Ash rocketing through the air with her shield posed in front of her. Well hope she lands safely. I look over at Pan when it's his turn, he quickly salutes me and I wink back at him chuckling as he goes flying off yelling at the top of his lungs. This is Fucking Awesome is the only thing I'm thinking when I get shot off. "Wooohooo," I yell as I soar. After enjoying flight for a few moments, I quickly realize that I was quickly reaching the tree line. I chuckle as I shoot my drill out into a tree, I then use the inertia to swing through the trees. After repeating the process until I rolled onto the ground. I got up and swept off the dust and leaves that had accumulated onto me after I had graciously, stupendously and uh badass….ly nailed my landing. I pull my goggles up in order to get a read of where I am or see if somebody was nearby. My inquisitive thoughts are disrupted by a loud roar as I turn around to see an Ursa had seen me land. As it rushes at me, I follow suit. Ducking under its paw as it swipes at me, I rev up my drill and punch it in the gut and send it flying into a tree. Keeping my momentum I run forward and try to slam my drill into its head. Unfortunately it saw it coming and dodged. It then swiped and hit me onto the ground, I got back up and got under its guard. With it open I slammed both my drills into its chest, it then proceeded to fall backwards dead. With it finished off I look around hoping that I could hear something that could help me out. Behind me I hear a snap noise, when I turn around another Ursa comes in, probably the the one I just killed its partner. As it roared and charged at me, I jumped up and shot one of my drills at the Ursa and hit in the head right on the dot, the drill then bore into its head killing it. As it evaporated, I whistled as the drill reeled back into the gauntlet. "Ha, piece of cake compared to the other one," I brag as I look around; feeling slightly disappointed that no one was around to see my badass display. I pull my handy dandy compass out of my pocket and I proceeded to figure out which was north. When I did, I proceeded to follow the arrow hoping to find the ruined temple and my soon to be partner. That was until I heard the sound of trees falling down as I turn around to see a King Taijitu fighting against a huntsman, one who had a long cloak and auburn hair. "You have got to be kidding me," I mumble as I run over to help him, as I do he has already taken out one of the heads and was already in the process of cutting the other head off. "Susanoo" I call out to him. From hearing his name, the cloaked figure turned his head towards me with a cautious look in his eye as our eyes meet. Gotcha, I think as I see realization dawn on his face. "So you are to be my partner then," he says as he sheathes one of his two swords. "You got that right buddy, you're stuck with me," I respond, as I can see him eyeing my drills. "Hmph, don't slow me down," he says as he begins to walk north. "Moody aintcha, aren't ya even going to ask my name," I say as I jog up to him. "Fine, what is your name then," he responds sighing. "Walter Aspen Gurren, friends call me Wasp, proud to finally really meet you partner," god I hope that that got to him.

He sends me a short glare as he responds, "Susanoo Odayakanaumi, now answer me this question; how did you learn my name." He tilted his head as he waited for me to answer. "Oh that's easy, this girl told it to me last night," I tell him. He goes pale when I say that and asks cautiously "Did this girl have short black hair and had a sickly sweet smile." When I nod he whispers "Oh no, she's found me." I stop walking when I feel the ground shake and hear the cries of birds flying. "We need to get to that temple before it's too late," he said as he began running. I pick up speed so I'm right beside him, "What do you mean, who are we running from." We stop as we have run right into a wall of rock. He turns around and looks into the woods, "Her," is the one thing he says before I hear it in the distance. "Daaaaarrrrrrllllliiiiiinnnnggggg," something yelled as it blurred past me and slammed Susanoo into a wall. "I've missed you so much darling," I turn around to see a brand new strange thing, the girl who had scared Pan last night; was currently nuzzling her face into his Susanoos' neck. He was looking absolutely mortified at this much contact, I could see him trying to squirm out of her iron grasp. I can't tell if this is adorable or horrifying, going to go with adorable. Well better make sense of this, "Excuse me, can you now tell me your name." She stopped snuggling at that, she then looked up and pouted, "Aww, so you already got a partner Susy, and here I was hoping that we could be partners for our school time, ah well," after saying that she stopped hugging him got up and snapped her fingers, "Banan you can come out now, I need a partner." Behind me I could hear someone jump out of a tree to reveal an albino boy in an ill fitting gray suit carrying a shovel appeared by her side. "Right here Rena," Banan said. "Hello I'm still here, can you please answer my question," I shout at them. "Hm oh right forgot about you for a second. Okay I'm Renata and this is Banan," The man nodded his head at me. "And I didn't tell you my name because I wanted to see the surprise on Susys' face when I saw him." She winked at me as she walked off with Banan in tow. "See you guys later." She happily strolled off into the forest vaguely going in the right direction. "Is she like this all the time," I whisper to Soosanoo as we start walking again. "You have no idea," he looks over to a cave with drawings next to it. "Think it might be a shortcut," I joke to him. He sends me a glare as he responds, "I doubt it, if you look at the painting; it seems to suggest that a Death Stalker is in there," he walks away saying that over his shoulder. I shrug, and catch up to walk beside him. It took a while and we killed quite a few Grimm, and it has finally started to rain.

Just great and I am wearing nothing to protect me from it. Maybe I should get a cloak like my partner, might be helpful to have in this weather. Maybe I should ask him where he got his. Just as I was lost in thought, Soosanoo had his arm out in front of me. "What is it," I say getting cautious. "We're here," He points at the what had to be the ruined temple, guess I hadn't been paying full attention. As we step up, we see that most of the relics were already taken; these relics appeared to be chess pieces, weird. I sense a commotion coming from behind us, expecting trouble we get ready for anything. We were not prepared for what came next, for what came next was Ash and Pan bickering loudly as they ran this way. For some reason it seemed fitting. "This your fault Goat-boy," "It wasn't my fault that your loud feet attracted them." It was only at this point that Soosanoo and I looked closer at what was coming towards us, because behind them were a massive pack of Beowolves. "Their bickering probably attracted them," I groan getting ready to help. "They will probably need to work on that." Susanoo nods as he grabs towards his own blades, "It also appears they attracted some Ursa," He states pointing towards two Ursa Majors inside the pack. "Shit, okay we need to go help them. What the shit," I say as lightning strikes a tree by some of the Beowolves causing a few of them to run off. "We need to hurry or this storm will fry us," Soosanoo states as we begin running towards Pan and Ash "Susanoo, can you buy me a minute so I can talk to them," I yell to him over the storm. He nods and pulls out his swords. We both run over with the sound of the storm blocking out the sound that was coming our way.


	4. Chapter 4

As we run towards them, thoughts start to race through my head. Like how their bickering caused all of those Grimm to pinpoint on them, and how did these two people happen to become partners? Statistically this made no sense, but I guess that that obviously doesn't matter because it actually happened. A massive tree fell down in front of the pack which gave us a chance to meet up with Ash and Pan. "Ah mate, it's a relief that you showed up I've had to deal with this chick this entire time," Pan stated earning a glare from Ash. "Dude, this is seriously not the time," Pan looks bewildered upon me saying this, "We need a plan before these things get to us; now which one of you has a long range weapon?" "My shield can turn into an Anti-Material Rifle," Ash says. "Perfect, here's the plan: Susanoo, Pan and I will go in and take care of as many of them as we can while you shoot down the as many of the Beowolves you can before the Ursa get in range. I don't care if all you do is slow them down; we need as much time as possible so we can clear out the pack first. Okay break," I shout out with all of them nodding their heads in agreement. The guys and I run towards the pack while Ash begins unloading into the pack, and while bullets whistle passed our heads, we begin to get close enough to hear them over the storm. Susanoo is the first of us to engage the Beowolves, and he expertly cut one in half in passing as he goes on to kill more around him. Not wanting to be left behind, I immediately throw myself into the battle as well, shooting my drills out and killing two of them. While pulling my right drill back into the gauntlet, I begin swinging the left one around like a flail; I smash it into the head of two more before I can get the chance to reel it in. When I take a sec to look to my right to check on Pan, I see him using the crook of his staff to trip them as he shoots them. He gives me a cocky smile as he looks at me before getting back into the fight. I duck under a paw of one of the Beowolves as I counter with an uppercut. Soon as the pack begins to slowly dissolve and the smarter ones realize that this a losing battle, I look up to see that all of the Beowolves were gone and all that were left were the Ursai. As the three of us get ready to take them down, a loud battle cry was heard as Ash tore past us. She threw her shield at the Ursa on the right, and it sinks into its flesh with a sick thud. Still running forward, she tackles the Ursa down, rips her shield out, proceeds to cut off its head it. She unfortunately forgot about the other Ursa next to her. Right before it was able to hit her though, I had leapt into action and had tackled her out of the way. While we were down, I heard a thunk as I can only assume Susanoo had cut off its head. "You're kind of heavy," I hear Ash muffle from under me. "Sorry, got caught up in the moment I say as I flash her a quick smile. Pan helps me up while Susanoo helps out Ash. We walk over to the temple to finally grab the relics. Which appear to be chess pieces, huh wacky. "I say we grab the white donkey things," Pan says as he grabs the white knight. Susanoo face palmed and then quickly glared at him. "It's called a knight dumbass," Ash really doesn't seem to like Pan, huh wonder why. "Cool, let's just grab both of the white knights, that cool with all you guys," I say grabbing the piece. "That's fine with me mate," Pan says grabbing the other piece. Just as we were about to begin our walk back to the Cliffside, two people hurdled into the ground in front of us.

As the smoke clears it reveals- "Oh damn not again, not him," Ash moans. "Fear not citizens, for I Speed Justice have arrived unharmed by the fall!" The guy gets up with that damn top hat still perfectly on his head. What does he do? Staple it to his head? "Mata and I require your assistance, for our fellows are in need of help. Because they are being chased by nefarious creatures!" Man this guy has powerful lungs. "Speed we need to get back to them," the fuchsia girl said carrying two chess pieces in her hands, "Don't want them to get over run." When she finished talking, they started running back where they came from. We ran to keep up with the two of them, hoping that we could help out with whatever they were facing. What came next I would never have seen coming, there were the other two trainees fighting a Bouldillo. As I stood there wondering how it could have been in this region since they are from where I'm from, Speed Justice and Mata jump up to help out their friends take down the Bouldillo. "Wait, didn't she say creatures. Where's the other one?" Pan asked. He did have a point as we began looking around to try to get a bead on it. "Uh guys I found it," Ash said pointing to pointing in front of us, to reveal a Sobek watching us. As soon as it roared at us, Ash opened fire on it and Susanoo charged at it. While they try to take down the huge Grimm, I try to think up a plan. But the more I think the more I realize that I don't know enough. I turn to Pan who is firing at the Sobek, "Pan, what can your pipes do," I say needing to find an edge, "Can they use Dust or something?" Pan shakes his head "No mate, they're a conduit," he stammers out. "A conduit for what," I demand looking back at the Sobek, Susanoo was trying desperately to cut though the Grimms armor. "My Semblance, I can control plants and make them grow. I use these seeds if plants aren't really around," He says pulling out a bag full of seeds and beans. Suddenly an idea sprung into my head as Ash having run out of ammo had begun battling it too. "Pan give me the bag now," I demand. "What, why?" I don't much time to answer. "Pan, when I plant these under the creature , make them grow as fast as possible," this plan really needs to work. Pan looks bewildered as Ash slams into a tree next to us as she rushes back in. "How are you going to plant the damn things when we need to fight this damn thing," he asks clearly confused. "You told me your semblance, now you will get to learn mine. When I give the signal grow them." I run towards the Sobek. Ash is caught between its jaws holding them apart while Susanoo slashes at the top of its mouth. I then dive forwards, but not at the Grimm but at the ground. Before I hit the ground I activate my Semblance, and I slip through like the ground was water. As I move through the ground I can feel the Sobek above me, and I begin to open the bag and disperse all of the seeds and beans into the soil behind me.

When I pop up behind the Sobek, I can see Susanoo holding on to the top of Grimms mouth with. Ash was down in front of Pan who was desperately shooting at it. "Susanoo get off of there, Pan NOW," I yell at the top of my lungs. Susanoo lunges off the Grimm as Pan brings his Pipes up to his mouth, and he begins playing. As soon as he starts trees and vines grow beneath the beast; the vines wrapping around the limbs as the trees begin pushing the Grimm off the ground. Unfortunately the trees and vines aren't strong enough to support something of that much mass, but that didn't matter as when the plants broke it caused the Sobek to land on its back leaving it open. "Ash, Susanoo go for the belly," I yell as I start running towards the struggling beast as some of the vines were still keeping its limbs tied together. Ash throws her shield into the beasts belly, while Susanoo began slicing his way through the softer scales. I on the other hand, rushed over to its head and began drilling into the base of its throat. With a sick sound I pierced through the scales and kept going; when I looked to my right I saw Susanoo and Ash ankle deep when the Grimm began to dissolve. "WOOHOO," Pan and I both holler after our amazing victory. I rushed over to him and we do a spinning arm holding thing. We were really giddy from the adrenaline. "How did you know that would work," Ash asks after we calm down a bit? "To be honest with you as soon as I saw the trees breaking I thought we were screwed," I admitted. Wait weren't there other initiates, I think looking around for the other trainees who were nowhere to be seen. Though there was a path of destruction that was probably caused by the Bouldillo. "Huh, wonder where the other guys went," I say. "Do you think we should go look for them?" Ash asks everyone. Pan only shrugs "Eh I'm sure they're fine. We should probably get back to the cliff top." We began our trek back up the cliff, which didn't take all that long this time. As it turned out we weren't actually all that far from where they got launched, we all grumbled as we began to climb back up the cliff side. As soon as we reached the top, the storm stopped. Well that's great I think. When we pull ourselves up, there in front of us were the Headmaster and Head Teacher. They looked the same as when we left, even the coffee was still steaming. "Congratulations on clearing initiation, now where are your relics?" Professor Goodwitch asked while looking at her scroll. Pan and I pulled out our Chess pieces while she checked off our names. "Well done, now that you have finished your test you may go back to the building, and shower and change," Professor Ozpin said. I raised my hand; a question was burning in my mind. "Yes Walter?" Professor Ozpin asked with his eyebrow slightly raised. "Yeah, how did a Bouldillo and a Sobek appear in Vale. Bouldillos are from Vacuo and Sobeks are from Mistral, how did they get here?" I asked because I had to know, or this would have bugged me for days. Professor Ozpin took a drink from his mug before he answered, "Those Grimm were acquired by Professor Port, one of the teachers here, on some of adventures around Remnant over the Summer. They must have escaped due to the storm. I hope that answers your question Walter." I notice Susanoo open his eyes wider when he heard Ports name. "Yes Sir thank you," I respond as we start to walk back towards the school. "I will see all of you in a few hours," He says behind us.

We all nod a little at that as the effects of the test finally started to sink in. When we got back to the school we all showered and changed into fresh clothes. Waiting for Susanoo was Renata who immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him away, for what I don't know and can only hazard a guess. Pan and Ash started bickering again, and with that happening I did the only reasonable thing to do and began napping. When I awoke it was time for the ceremony. As we wait to be called up I dozed a little off. I vaguely remember the guys we helped out during the test becoming team VENM which would be lead by a named Verde, and we saw Renata and Banan with their team HART. Finally we were called up. "Walter Gurren. Ashley Bolide. Susanoo Odayakanaumi. Panikos Voskós. The four of you collected the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team WASP. Led by . . . Walter Gurren." He finishes talking when the applause comes. Ash pats me on the back, while I think "me team leader" huh why not. As we are ushered into our room we all begin to get changed for bed. "Your last name is really hard to pronounce," Ash said to Susanoo. He looked up to her in faint surprise. "I get that a lot," He said as he looks back down. I swear I can see him smile a little. When Ash finishes getting ready she tucks herself in, and before she falls asleep she lets out a warning, "Whoever wakes me up tomorrow is a dead man." Having said that she curled up in to the sheets. Pan and I exchanged glances, I shrug we can deal with it in the morning. I look over to where Susanoo is and I see him slumped against a wall watching us, his weapons were right beside him. "Aren't you going to use your bed mate," Pan asked eyebrows raised. "Don't need it," he said with a stare that told us to drop it. Pan shrugs and pulls out two scarves which he then began to wrap around his horns. When he caught me staring he told me that he didn't want to poke any holes into the pillows. After that he lied down on his bed and went to bed. As I got into my bed I looked over to where Susanoo was still sitting watching us. "Night Soos," I say before snuggling in. "That's not my name," is the last thing I hear before I go under. I smile at that.


	5. Chapter 5

"C'mon mate we got to do this carefully," "I know," I say as sweat drips down my forehead. "If we mess this up, we are going to die," Pan says panic clear in his voice. "Dude we are going to be fine," I say clapping my hand on Pans shoulder. "Breakfast is ready, hurry and wake her up," Susanoo looks over at us from the stove, where he is flipping pancakes, where Pan and I are getting ready to prod Ash with a pole. "Aren't you scared that she's going to kill us?" Pan asked him. "No, I'm not waking her up so I'm in no danger," He replies, putting the food on the table, "Wake her up in the next minute, or we will late for our first day." He began eating his portion on his own. With that weighing on us we began to prod Ash with the pole. On the third prod Ash grabbed the pole, snapped it in half and then hit both of us with the two halves. As we rubbed our heads in pain, Ash got out of bed rubbing her eyes. "Good morning," She mumbled still half asleep. "What smells good?" "Soos made breakfast," I respond, man she hit hard. "That's not my name," Susanoo says from the table. "Oh cool," she said getting out of bed. She walked into the bathroom, probably needed to change. As soon as she left Pan and I sat down at the table and helped ourselves to some breakfast. I've got to admit this is really good, the bacon is perfect and the pancakes are fluffy but firm. I look up and give Susanoo a thumbs up. He nods at that and resumes his breakfast. Ash comes out dressed in her uniform, stretching her arms out. She then settled down at the table and joined us. Susanoo then got up a few minutes later, "We have ten minutes before we are late," he said putting his shoes on. "I'm leaving now, good luck." And with that he walked out of the room. "I still can't tell if that guy is a dick or just really antisocial," Ash said with her mouth full. Pan and I nod our heads in agreement, we then began to put our shoes on as well. Grabbing our bags we hurried to the lecture halls. When we finally arrived, we had cut it pretty close. To be honest we had gotten a little lost. As we took our seats, I noticed Susanoo sitting next to this really big guy. I gave him a wave and he nodded in return, and then went back to his conversation. Huh, I guess even he can make friends.

"Good morning students. My name Professor Port, and I will be instructing you on the ways of the Grimm," said our professor a man in a double breasted burgundy suit. I look over to Pan who just stifled a yawn. "Monsters! _Deeeemons_... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as **prey**! Ha-ha!" I follow Pans guide by yawning as well, for some reason Susanoo seemed enraptured. "Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely _teeming_ with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses! Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the _very world_!" At that last part I begin to nod off. It's a bad habit of mine. The professor began to tell a story from his youth. As I look around the room I see Susanoo furiously taking notes, I'll need to swipe those later. "Pretty boring huh," I nod as I look to my left to see one of the hottest girls I have ever seen. "Tired?" she asks moving her red and green hair out of her eyes. I nod again and she giggles. "Ahem," We both look back at the professor and quiet down. "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my _sheer_ tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!" He bowed at that part. "The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise! So, who among you believes themselves to be the _embodiment_ of these _traits_?"

As soon as he finished talking Speed Justice burst out of chair. "I do Professor, for I Speed Justice am ready!" He posed for that last one. "Well, then, let's see if you are all that you say. Step forward and face your opponent," He says gesturing to a rattling cage. At that Speed Justice flipped out of chair and landed on his face. "Careful lad, don't want to hurt yourself before you defeat your prey," The Professor cheerfully said to him. I could hear Ash giggle at that. He sprung up no like nothing had happened, and he then got into a combat stance. "And begin," The professor stated as he broke the lock containing the Boarbatusk. Speed Justice ran up and grabbed the tusks of the Grimm trying to wrestle it to the ground. It shakes him off though, and throws him back across the wall. "Weren't expecting that were you." Without missing a beat he flipped back up right, he then made finger guns and began to open fire on the Boarbatusk. With the incoming volley the beast charged at him, and once again they grappled. "What will you do this time to change the situation." Only this time Speed Justice had a much better grip and leverage. Using his much better position he rammed his foot down its throat and ripped it apart. That was horrifying to say the least. "What a display of tenacity and technique. Bravo. We are in the presence of a true Huntsman-in-training. I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay _vigilant_! Class dismissed!" I look to my right to see the girl was getting ready to leave. "Wait, you never told me your name. I'm Walter Gurren friends call me Wasp, and yours?" I say to the girl who gave me a giggle. Score. "Alright my name is Cherryle Ubiquitous. I guess I'll see you around Wasp," She waves back as she walks off. As I stand there dumbstruck my team walks up behind me. "Who's she, lover-boy," Pan says as he winks at me. "That's Cherryle, and what do you mean lover boy," I ask glaring at him, behind him I can see Ash looking pissed, but that's just probably her normal look now that I think about it. "Oh nothing," he whistles as we walk out of the classroom.

It's only now that I realize that someone is missing as I go back to the classroom I see Susanoo talking to the professor. This strikes me as odd because he was smiling, and in these past two days I haven't really seen him smile at all. I head back to the Pan and Ash who are waiting for me/bickering, we then start to walk around school as we have nothing else to do. "I wonder why Susanoo was meeting with the professor?" I ask to myself. "Eh who knows, maybe he had a question about his really boring story. Did either of you catch out what it was about?" Pan asks looking at both of us which we responded in the negative. "Figures, the first day of school and I already don't know anything," He groans out. "That sounds like you Goat-boy," Ash responded, and just like that Pan started to scowl. "Guys please don't start again, you don't want me to use my supreme leader powers" I say trying to keep the mood jovial. They both mumble something back to me, I can only hope it was them agreeing with me. Suddenly the urge to pee overwhelmed me and I told them to go on without me. As I relieved myself I realized that next to me was the leader of team VENM, Verde I think. As we both washed our hands, I tried my best to start a conversation with him. "Speed justice was pretty good in that last match," I said as we both awkwardly washed our hands. "Yeah, I guess he was," He said as he walked away. I shrug, I've gotten used to this sort of thing from Susanoo.

After that awkward conversation I decided to take a stroll to try to just clear my mind from the slightly hectic day I've had. While on my stroll I could hear someone inside the one of the combat rooms, when I peaked in imagine my surprise to Susanoo was there training. The way he fought looked more like a really intricate dance than a combat style. It's beautiful to say the least. He suddenly stops, he probably realized that he was being watched. "Hey Soos that was awesome. Hey do you need a sparring partner I could grab my drills out of the locker room," I say hoping that he will say yes. "No, your assistance is not needed, I train better by myself," He then went back to his routine, clearly saying that the conversation is over. I shrug which I now realize I have done a lot these past few days, and I walk back out only to stop at the doorway. "Hey, we should get dinner tonight if you have time, you know try to get to know each other a little better," silence is my answer. Sighing I go back to aimlessly walking around. I didn't even realize that I had made my way to the balcony. Staring at the sunset I leaned down onto the railing. Man what did I do to get stuck with a group like this, two people that always start arguing when their by themselves and a guy who probably wants nothing to do with the rest of us.

"Mind if I join you," I turn around to see the headmaster standing behind me. "Not at all sir," I reply. "Beautiful isn't it," he says taking a sip from his mug. "Yeah I guess it is." I reply looking at the horizon. "Something's troubling you," I can't tell it if he's asking or if he's telling. "I guess I'm just unused with how my team functions so far. I mean I can't get two of them stop fighting and the other one will barely talk to us enough for me to know if he likes us or just doesn't care," Wait why am I telling him all of this, I didn't even tell myself this. "These troubles happen a lot at the start with teams, sometimes the best thing to do is to simply talk, though as the leader you must earn the respect for the change to happen. Initiation can be the key. In the end what happens is decided by you," after he finished talking he took a sip of coffee, patted my shoulder then walked away. Some things that he said did make some sense. I needed to talk to my team. With my mission in mind I walked to the cafeteria, and when I got there I was rewarded with seeing Pan trying hard to impress a girl. He wasn't making any progress, so I went up and tapped his shoulder. With his attention averted the girl walked away. "What's up mate," he said with casual grin on his face.

"We need to talk," I tell him with the same tone I would use on one of my siblings. "About what," His grin gone, he looked at me skeptically. "Something that concerns the team, we need to talk somewhere a bit more private, so let's head back to our room and we'll talk," He shrugged at that and followed me back to our room where we found Ash studying. "Is something going on," she asks after looking at both of our faces. "Um yeah, Wasp just wanted to talk to me-," I cut him off at that. "Actually this concerns you too, so please stay seated," Ash looked slightly off put by my tone. I just need to get this over with, so I go straight to the point. "You need to stop arguing." "That's what this about," They both say. "Look mate, if this whole "Meeting" thing is about our bickering, then this is a waste of time," Pan looks kind of annoyed at this, but I don't really care right now. Ash also chimes in, "Yeah, I mean our bickering isn't even that bad." "Oh really, then why was it that during initiation you two almost got killed because of it. If Soos and hadn't helped you take out those Grimm that were attracted by your bickering, you two could have been killed. And this even just from that every time that you two are just by yourselves, you immediately start arguing, if that happens in the field all the Grimm nearby will just hone in on us. To put it bluntly, your arguing makes us a target," after I finish talking they both look kind of guilty, and I wonder if maybe I was a bit too hard on them. "Look Mate, I'm sorry. Ash just pushes all of my buttons, especially with that nickname." "What you mean Goat-boy, what's wrong with that," Ash asks, her expression now curious. "What are you dense, I've been bullied over the fact that I'm a Faunus for most of my life. The only way you could have been more like my bullies is if you threw tin cans at me, and then tell me to eat them," And he's gotten angry, this cannot end well. "Well how the hell was I supposed to know that," She says every word while locking eyes with him. "Guys, this is what I'm talking about. You need to cut this shit out before it becomes a problem," After I said that they begin to grumble, I then grab their hands and force them to shake. It's a start at least, and these two were the easy part. I now had to deal with Susanoo.


	6. Chapter 6

I stayed up late waiting for him. It was past midnight when he finally came into the room. Pan and Ash had long since fallen asleep. Their bickering had come back a little bit after we talked. But I could feel that what I had said got through to them, at least I hope it had. Susanoo did what he had done the night before: he sat down against the wall, put his weapon down beside him and then went to sleep. Why didn't he just use the bed? That I suppose is a question for later. After that I slowly dozed off, and when I woke up there he was making us breakfast again. And it appears that Pan and Ash are both still asleep, so I get up and decide that if I was going to get through to Susanoo and get him to open up a bit to the team I have two real choices: I can either talk to Renata who scares me, or Professor Port who I don't really know what his relationship with Soos was actually like. I internally shrug at that, I can figure this out later. After that internal discussion I get dressed and begin eating with Soos. Pretty soon the other two joined us. All of us were pretty pumped for today, since today we had combat class. It was going to feel good to spar with someone. And as happened yesterday Susanoo left before us, I sigh a little at that. Once the rest of us had finished up we began our walk down to the amphitheater still pumped for the chance to let loose. "Hey Ash, you still haven't really told us what your Semblance is," Pan asked with curiosity in his voice. "And you will see it when you have to see it," Ash answered nonplussed. At that Pan pouted a little bit. I wrapped my arms around the two of them. "Calm down guys or I'll have to use my powers as your fearless leader," at that I give a little squeeze. Pan starts tapping my arm. "You're choking us mate," he mutters out. I quickly let go of both of them. "Sorry guys," I say rubbing my head. "Sometimes I forget my own strength." They both wheeze for a little bit. "So is there anybody that you want to fight in class. I mean I can't wait to let loose on anybody, you guys will get to see your amazing leader in action again," I say flexing my arms a little bit for effect. "Eh I don't know, nobody really sticks out in my mind. Who knows I might not even fight today. Hey Ash who do you want to fight?" Pan asked with curiosity in his voice. "No one that matters, we haven't been here long enough for anyone to have gotten onto my shit list yet," she said brazenly. Pan and I both look at her at that.

"What?" she asked. "Nothing Ash," I say with Pan wheezing a little bit. When we finally get to the amphitheater we are thankfully not the last ones to get there. We sit down next to Susanoo, who actually saved us seats. Strange, very strange. He looks his usual stoic self. I lean back into my seat as the prof walks in. "Hello class as you all know name is professor Goodwitch, and I will be instructing you in the way of combat. In order to do this you all have two choices: be brave and volunteer, or allow me to choose two of you that I feel like. So any volunteers," and surprising no one nobody volunteered. She seemed to be unsurprised by this anyway as she just looked down at her scroll. "Alright then will Mr. Lagartija come down here please." At that I could see Verde from the other side of the amphitheater jump down to arena. I wonder what loser will have to fight him. "And will Mr. Gurren also come down here," God I hate myself sometimes. Pan gave me a pat on my back as I too jump down across form Verde who had already gotten his double headed scythe out. I, not wanting to seem like I was late to the party, bring up my drills and give Verde a wink. He shakes his head at that and gets back into his stance. "And begin," Goodwitch says to signal us. The only advantage I will have is to stay close. So I rush him, but when I got close enough to him he shot his leg down to trip and then grabbed my outreached arm in one swift gesture. When he had leverage he tossed me to the other side of the room. As soon as he got away to swing his scythe, I shot my drill out at him catching him off guard. When it hit him in the head I moved to get back in my range. Now that I knew what he could do it was far better for me as I just laid into him. I was able to get in a few good hits on him before he was able to get me off him, and he began to get some combos off me. We kept going back and forth for a while until he actually got me down low. I was down on my back which was, obviously, a horrible place to be. He stood over me with his scythe up, and as he swung it down I shot my drill out right into his gut. I laughed in victory until his scythe landed on top of me, and both of our Auras got into the low zone. Everybody laughed and clapped at the double KO, I groaned as I felt my image going down. "Well fought both of you. Though for future warning Mr. Lagartija you should always remember what your opponent can do, it was sloppy to get so close when you knew that your opponent could extend his range. Besides that you both did well," and with that said she whisked us back into our chairs.

"Good try Mate, maybe next time you'll actually beat somebody," Pan said still laughing, Ash was beside him trying to stifle her laughter, and Susanoo as always showed nothing on his face so of course it was really surprising when he actually spoke. "You were careless, you should have paid more attention when he tried to get behind," He said stoic as ever. "Ha, I'd like to see you do any better," I say just a little bitter. "Very well," he said getting up and volunteering for the next fight. He jumped down when she nodded at him, he just stood waiting as this big swordsman jumps down, and after a second I recognize as the guy that Susanoo was sitting next to yesterday. "I bet fifty lien that the big guy wins," Pan says to me with a hand out. I smirk a little as I take it. "Deal." I could see Ash roll her eyes at us. The Prof signaled that them to begin, but instead of doing that they both first bowed to each other and then proceeded to get out their weapons and begun fighting. And what I saw was the same thing I saw yesterday, and that is that Susanoo fights with a grace that can put dancers to shame. Daichi swung down on Susanoo, when he blocked it we could feel the shockwave from it. The one thing that troubled me was that Susanoo only used one of his swords, why wasn't he using both of them? They seemed to be an even match with them keeping up with the others blows. Neither of them seemed to actually have an edge over the other as they locked blades. They continued to trade blows for a good while until Susanoo sees an opening and sweeps Daichi off his feet. Susanoo then immediately got on top of him, and positioned his sword over his throat. "Well done Mr. Odayakanaumi, and Mr. Daichi use this to remember to work on your footwork," and with that being said she whisked them all back to their seats. Pan had just finished giving me my winnings when Susanoo sat back down.

"Why did you volunteer?" I inquire. "You asked me to," He responded. That was surprising. I gave him a quick look to see that like usual there was no emotion on his face. "Now we have time for one last bout before we run out of time. Now any volunteers?" professor Goodwitch asked. Pan popped up to volunteer. "If you guys can do it, then I can show you how a master fights," he said with enough confidence that I somehow believed him. When he hopped down to the arena floor Ash and I exchanged looks. "I have the feeling this is going to blow up in his face," Ash said. "That's kind of a stretch. I'm sure he'll do fine," I respond with a small smile. I've got confidence in my bud, and I'm am totally certain that he will kick his opponents ass. His opponent Ran Plum jumps down, and then pulls out one of the silliest weapons I have ever seen. He pulls out a freaking Paddle ball that he began to play with. Pan has got this in the bag. "You're going down mate," Pan says just full of confidence. "What do you mean "Mate"," Ran replied in his light voice. "That's just what I call every guy I meet" I could hear the confusion in his voice at that. "Okay I am going to destroy you now," Ran said in tranquil fury. "And begin," Goodwitch states. As Pan ran forward to take on his foe Ran just kept playing with his giant paddle ball. Once Pan got into range however Ran hit the paddle ball over at Pan. It then exploded right in his face. I hear Ash mutter something, "Called it." Pan is lying down on the ground dazed while Ran pops a bubble from his gum. "Mr. Voskós this should teach you not to rush in so haphazardly like that again, and well done Mrs. Plum you were very calm and assessed the situation accordingly," Wait that's a chick. "Good work all of you that volunteered. Next time I hope that more of your decide to come up to learn, and with that said you are all dismissed," she said just as the bell rang. Ash and I hop down to Pan who is still dazed on the ground. Ash begins to lightly kick him. "Hey, you okay buddy," Ash says in a bored tone. "…..zing," we hear him mumble. "What," I respond. "She was amazing," Pan said bouncing up with a gleam in his eye. "What," I say for the second time. "That girl was one of the most amazing people I have ever seen. Mates, I think I'm in love," Pan says in excitement. "Dude this chick just kicked your ass and now you've fallen in love with her," Ash says kneading her forehead. "Glorious isn't it," Pan says with a flutter in his voice. Ash and I exchange glances, and I shrug at her. Let him have his fun.

I look around finally noticing that as usual one of us is missing. "Now to play everyone's favorite game: find Susanoo," I say. "Dude, why do you even try with him?" Ash asks. "Because if we are going to work as a team we need to actually communicate," I say with the confidence that only a leader can have. They both shrug at that, and they join me in searching for our missing teammate. It took us about an hour to find him. We found him meditating on the cliffs overlooking the forest. I cough to get his attention, which he ignores. I cough louder, and again he doesn't stir in recognition. Ash not waiting for my third try went over to get his attention. She never got close enough. When she got close enough Soos whirled in a blur of motion, and had his blade right in front of her throat. When he realized it was her he put it back down beside him and looked like he was going to return to his meditation, but he actually spoke to us. "What do you want?" he said not turning back to us. "We want talk with you," Pan says in his chipper tone. "No, I have no need to talk with you," he says back. "Look can you answer me a question for me?" I say. "There's something I need to know." At that he turns around to us. "Fine, I will answer your question," he said in that same neutral tone he always has. "Okay my question is this: when I asked you why you volunteered for the fight you said it was because I asked you to. What did you mean by that?" He looks just a little puzzled at that. "You told me what you wanted, and so I did it. That is all there is to it," having said that he turned back around. "Why?" "I told you I would your answer your question. I did, now leave me be." Okay this is going nowhere. "Fine, but we are going to talk later, and we're going to work this out," Ash and Pan both start walking away, and I am about to join them. But one thing makes me say no. "Actually answer me one more question," I order. Once he heard that Soos got up and turned around to me. Both Pan and Ash are staring at me confused. "What do you want to know," Susanoo responds. "Why are you here at Beacon? Why did you want to become a Huntsman?" I say these in my most commanding voice. He has to answer me. He tilts his head at me before he answers. "I chose this life to repay a debt, and when that debt is paid I will do what I have to," once he said that, he picked up weapons and walked back to campus. "Is it just me, or did that make everything even more confusing?" Pan said in bewilderment.


	7. Chapter 7

"Oh come one Ash; it's not as bad you're making it sound," Pan whined. "Pan, I will never help you pick up chicks," Ash growled at him. "Ubububub. Not _chicks_ Ash. I am only trying to pick up a _chick_. Huge difference right there," Pan said clearly defining what he was talking. "Thanks for the clarification ass, but I am still not going to help you pick up the chick who kicked your ass last week," the irritation was plain on her face, and either Pan was too stupid to see it or was just too in his own world to notice. I look over at Soos, who was currently doing push ups, and he looked over at me and shook his head. I sigh as I think over what had happened this past week. Pan had tried to smooth talk Ran, but she was pissed at the fact that he had thought that she was a he. So she had cup checked him and walked away. It probably didn't help when he had tried to explain himself and had accidently called her "mate" again. On the brighter side of things though, Susanoo had started to hang out with us more. He still is creepily silent. I'm brought out of daydreaming by the sound of Ash cup-checking Pan. I shake my head as he writhes on the ground. He really needs to learn when to take a hint. I gaze over to Soos who has taken his usual place against the wall. "Dude why don't you just use your bed. I can't really imagine that leaning against a wall is all that comfortable," I say. At that he quirks an eyebrow at me. "I am not used to sleeping in a bed. I much prefer this way. It has familiarity to it," he replied with a wistful tone in his voice. "And that sounded extremely cryptic dude. Are you going to explain any part of that?" "Probably not." "Of course," I rub my head, and I can hear Ash giggle at that. Wacky, though she might just be laughing at Pan's continuing misfortune. It is kind of funny. After that all calmed down it was time for us to call it a night. Pan mumbled about how his balls were still in pain, and Ash immediately responded with telling him to stop whining at her.

In the morning I was woken up to a surprise. I had overslept, and this hadn't happened in a long time. When I blinked myself awake, I noticed that most of the team was missing. Only Susanoo was here, and with him he brought a guest. Susanoo was quietly conversing with Banan at our table. They kept their voices low enough that I could barely hear what they were talking about. When I began to get up, they both immediately stopped talking, and Banan got up to leave. "You don't have to leave because of me," I say hoping I didn't interrupt something important. "It's perfectly fine. We had just finished," the albino replied almost immediately. I walked over to the table as he left. When I walked over to the table, something pricked my foot. As I hopped on my other foot, I picked up my wounded foot to see what had caused the damage. It was a white feather, where the hell did a white feather come from. When I looked over to Susanoo, he shook his head at me as he took a drink from his mug. "Any breakfast left?" I question him with a grumble. He pointed over to a plate of cool waffles. I grab the plate and begin my feast. "Where are (gulp) Ash and Pan?" I say between bites. "They have gone down to Pan's families store," he replied. "His family owns a store down in the city?" I ask after I finish off the waffles. "Apparently so," he responds. He then gets up and prepares to head out. "Where you off to?" I ask. He slumps as he responds. "I am off to meet with Rena. She demanded that we spent this day off together." "So just you and your lady love huh," I smirk as I can just feel him scowl at that. And in response to that he just walked out the door. I chuckle to myself as I twirl the feather in my hand. Now what am I going to do? I begin to focus on the feather hoping that it would distract me. Where in the world did a white feather come from.

Any train of thought I had was dashed by my scroll ringing. And imagine my surprise to find that it was none other than my twin sister Whitney. "Sup Whit, how goes the eldest of my younger siblings," when I hear the groan from the other end I smile. "Wasp you have got to stop saying that joke. It wasn't even funny the first time you said it," god it is good to hear from her. "I know I know. How are things on the home front?" it takes her a second before she answers. "Eh things are okay here, everyone still misses you, and dad is still as quiet as ever, " I begin to laugh a little at that. "Good to here that some things will never really change." "Yeah, now how are things on your end bro. Have you finally gotten yourself a girlfriend?" I can hear her maniacal laughter on the other side of the phone. "Ha ha very funny sis. And things are going pretty good at Beacon. I have a pretty good team, though they are all kind of crazy. And to answer your question no I don't have a girlfriend, but there is a girl that has caught my eye," I feel myself blush when I say that last part. "Oh ho is that right brother of mine tell me all about her," I can hear the need for gossip in her voice. "Nah, I'll tell you about her later sis." "Ugh tease." I smirk a little at that, I have missed this. "How goes your studies miss future CEO of Gurren Mining Co Company," I can hear her sigh at that. "They're going alright, though I can feel Dad starting to breathe down my neck. Ever since Schnee has started has started horning in more in Vacuo, we've been losing profit. So yeah, things are going alright." "Oh shit, I'm sorry Whitney I had no idea. Though knowing you and Dad everything will be fine," I think my words cheered her up a little bit. "Yeah I know. Hey does anyone know about the company on your side of the world?" I know what she really meant when she asked. "No one knows, and I am pretty happy about that," I don't want them to know. "You're going to have to tell them eventually Wasp. Your team probably deserves to know." "I know, but one of them has more secrets than just that. I don't need to tell them." I say making up numerous excuses. "Walter," Man I hate when she sounds like Mom. "I know, and don't worry about me. Things will be alright." I can just imagine her smile at that. "I know bro, but I have to go help Mom with something so I will call you later. Stay safe," and with that she hung up. I look sadly at the phone for a solid minute before I gaze out the window. I hate to admit it, but I am just a tad bit homesick.

I quickly shake off the feeling though. No need to dwell on that. And with that distraction out of the way, I need to find something else to do. So I began to walk around the campus, and it was going great. Until I accidently walked into someone and they spilled their hot coffee all over themselves. "What the hell man. This shirt was brand new," came from the pissed off chic chick. Fucking great it's Adel. "Sorry Adel, it was an accident," Personally I don't care that much, but this is Coco we're talking about she cares about her clothes like they were her own family. "That's not going to cut it Gurren," she said glaring at me. "Fine, I will buy you a new one if you get off my back. How much did those rags cost?" God she is making me mad. "RAGS, this shirt cost over six-hundred lien. So pay up drill-head, if you even can," and now she's even madder than I am. "Your damn right I can, in fact I could buy three of them right now," at that we literally started butting heads with each other. While we were glaring at each other, Coco dumped the rest of her coffee onto my shoes, "Goddamn it Adel these shoes cost five-hundred lien," as I reached down to try to clean them off, I felt something tug off, only to realize that she had taken off my scarf. I instantly became even more furious than I should have been. I tackled her to the ground, which in hindsight wasn't the best of ideas in hindsight. We grappled on the ground for a little while, and all the while we were ripping into each others clothing. To anybody walking by we probably looked like quarrelling children. This went on for a good two minutes until Coco's big strong teammate picked us both up, and it was kind of impressive how he held both of us one handedly. He and Velvet were probably walking around nearby, and had caught us in our scuffle. As Velvet was talking with Coco trying to figure out what had happened, I, on the other hand, was in the iron grip of Yatsuhashi. God how buff was this guy, I thought as I tried to wriggle out of his grasp. That went on for about another minute or so until Velvet nodded towards Yatsuhashi. I faceplanted onto the ground when he dropped me, not really a highlight for my pride. "Can you please tell me your side of the story Walter. I want to know what happened," Velvet asked. "It's pretty simple Velvet. I was going on a midday stroll when your leader walked into me, which knocked her coffee into her own shirt. While I tried to be a perfect gentleman about the whole thing, I mean I even offered to replace her tacky shirt-" "TACKY," Coco yelled at me and tried vigorously to swipe at me, which she was thankfully held back by Yatsuhashi. "Now as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, she then began to argue with me about how bad her shirt was, and how I could totally afford to buy her a new one. And then as we began to butt heads, she aggressively spilled her drink on my designer shoes, which was totally uncalled for. Now I was trying to let it go and so I began to try and clean off my shoes, and then she viciously tore off my scarf like a savage cavewoman with a terrible taste in shoes," I glance over to see Coco fuming at me, and that felt kind of good. "And then you ran into as we got into a squabble, and here we are ten years later." She groaned at that one.

Girls seem to do that a lot when I make a joke these days, Pan's probably rubbing off on me. "Since you said that you would pay for her shirt, how about you do that and then shake hands and make up, okay," Velvet said staring at me with her precious innocent eyes. "Fine, but first I want my scarf back," my neck started to itch without the usual cloth there. "Fine, but why did you tackle me when I took it from you. It doesn't really seem that expensive," Coco said with a raised eyebrow as she peered at the scarf over her sunglasses. "It was a going away present from my mother," I immediately respond. "Neat," she responds as she throws it into my face. She then plucked my wallet out of my hand, and then took out the money she needed for a new shirt. "Tootles Walter," Coco said as she and the rest of her team sauntered off. Velvet waved back as they rounded a corner. Figuring that that was the end of that, I went over to the courtyard where I was surprised to see Susanoo, but not with the person I was expecting. Instead of being with the lovely Renata, he was instead sitting with Professor Port talking about something. Soos seemed to be in a good mood, heck he even had a small smile on his face as he listened to one of the Professors stories. I suddenly felt very out of place there so I began to walk back the dorms, might take a nap. As I stroll back to the dormitory, I hear a familiar laughter. As I turn around, I see Cherry with her team. When I saw her I could feel my stomach drop, god she is beautiful. She looks up from her friends when she notices me and gives me a slight smile and wave. I returned it albeit a little meekly, god she makes me nervous. After that awkward exchange, she looked back to her group and resumed her conversation. So I begin to walk back to what I was originally going for, my dorm room. Hopefully I can just get back there and take a nap before I bump into somebody else. I sigh and I begin to space out a little bit as I continue my journey. Unfortunately it seems that I have angered some sort of god as I ran into Ran. Man that was really weird to think. "Hey, what's up?" I say secretly hoping that she just keeps moving. Unfortunately she did not. "Doing alright. Hey, what's up with your goofy friend. He won't stop pestering me for some reason," I can't tell if this girl is being serious or not, her blank expression doesn't really help me at all. "I think that he's just trying to be friendly," hopefully I can play this smooth and not ruin Pan's chances. "What a weird way to be friendly. Did you know he called me mate five times we last talked and each time he corrected himself. It was kind of weird," I stare at her with most dumbfounded expression I had.

Did Pan even have a chance to actually get with this chick, because from what I just heard he has much of a chance of getting with this girl as the moon has of being whole again. After that we stood together for a few more moments of awkward silence before she finally just meandered away while giving me a small wave. I sigh as I wave back. Today has been a strange day. I wonder how Pan and Ash did in Vale, and how they could stand each other the whole time. Eh questions for later. As I finally got into the dorm room, I was surprised to find Susanoo there looking at a picture of something. When he noticed me, he immediately put the photo away. "What was that?" I asked him, and really hoping for a breakthrough. "A memory of a mistake that was made," he responded with a glimmer of sadness and nostalgia. I don't ask anymore about it, he probably wouldn't answer me anyway. After that awkward conversation, we were saved from more silence by the timely arrival of Ash and Pan, with their arms loaded with goodies from their trip. Soos got up and went over towards the kitchenette. "Did you get what I asked for?" Soos asked Pan. "Yeah mate. Don't really know what you needed cake mix for, but it doesn't compare to what I got," Pan said pulling out two things out of his bag: one he handed to Susanoo, and the other he showed me. "Grimm Puncher 5: The Grimmpocalypse. I've been so psyched to get this Mate," Pan said hugging the game to his chest before a thought struck him. "I wonder if Ran likes video games," He said stroking his chin. Deciding that I didn't want to step into that minefield I went over to Susanoo. I looked over to see if Pan was actually telling the truth about what he had gotten him, and sure enough there was a box of cake mix. "Any reason you needed cake," I ask with real curiosity in my voice. He gave me a quick look before he responded, "The day is arriving soon." Before I could ask for any clarification about what he just said, Pan pulled both me and Ash over to play the game, and I've got to admit that it was pretty good. We played that for a good while until we all just slowly but surely just collapsed onto our beds, except for Soos who leaned against his wall like usual. Today was a good day, are the last words I think before I drift off.


	8. Chapter 8

I wake up to the sound of something I could only equate to a wood chipper. When I slowly woke up, I could barely believe what was causing the noise. Before me was Ash and Pan having an eating competition with both of them inhaling pancakes. Right by them was Soos who was calmly drinking tea as he watched the carnage in front of him. He looked over towards me as I trudged forward. He slid a plate of food towards me, and In return I gave him a short nod in thanks. It would have been a great moment if the other people at this table weren't acting like a pair of garbage disposals. After five minutes of pure chaos before us, Pan beat Ash by eating thirty pancakes to her twenty-eight. The look of pride on his face was only managed by the horror on our faces. He was too busy beaming and poking Ash who had fallen into a food coma to notice us. It took a few moments for Ash to get back up and snap his finger, which got him to really calm down. "Hey do you guys know which class we have today," Ash asked us looking up from the groveling Faunus. "I believe that we have Professor Peaches class today," Susanoo said looking up from his book. Upon hearing her name Pan shot back up. "We have Peaches class today. Yes, I love her classes," he cheered as he began to fall back down. As we all looked down to find him stuck in patch of syrup. "Could on of you help me up? I'm kind of stuck," He said as Ash began to try to pull him up.It took us a good five minutes for us to get him unstuck. What the hell was in this syrup, super glue mixed with concrete? "Thanks guys can't believe that happened," Pan said as he tried to brush himself off only for him to get his hand stuck on his pant leg. Susanoo let loose one of the biggest sighs I have heard in a long time. At that Pan scurried off into the bathroom to get changed. Taking that as our cue the rest of us also got changed, and right before we were about to head out the door Ash hollered at Pan. "Hey we're going to class. We'll meet you there okay." The response she got was a big thumbs up from the bathroom.

She nodded to herself and the three of us began to walk down to the main lecture halls. "Hey Soos, thanks again for making breakfast. It's really great of you to make it everyday, but I have to ask why do you keep making it for us? I'm not complaining or anything, I just really want to know," Ash asked as both she and I look at Susanoo. Soos gave us a side glance when he responded. "I do what I have always had to do. It's best to continue my duty for when I return." We didn't have enough time to ask for clarification before Pan bowled into us. We picked ourselves up and went into the classroom as Pan apologized to us for what just happened. It took five minutes after we sat down for the Prof to come in. "Hello class, I am so sorry for being late. I accidently overslept," she said as she began to chuckle behind her hand. As she began the lesson I started to drift off to the boring lesson, and I began to dream about a Beowulf doing the tango with an Ursa. Not the worst dream I've ever had, but was one of the weirdest during my time here. My daydream had shifted over to getting fed a giant stack of pancakes by Cherry before I was brought out of it by Pan jabbing my side with a pencil. "Mate, this stuff is important. Try to stay awake," he whispered as he finished his page of notes. "I know dude, just can't seem to focus," I whisper back as I stifle a yawn. "And besides even if I can't stay awake, I can always just copy your notes," I respond as I rub my eyes. He chuckles at that last bit. "Yeah but it's gonna cost you though." We both start to laugh at that, but our laughter is cut short by a pencil that had just embedded itself into the wall behind us. "If you boys are finished, you should really start paying attention," She says as Pan and I both nod furiously. "Good choice," she says as she returns to the lesson. I look over to the pencil, and I try to pull the pencil out from the wall. The thing would not budge, and upon realizing how deep it was in the wall I immediately stop fidgeting with it. This woman is starting to fright me, but as I look over to see Pan with a huge grin plastered on his face as she talks. Great, he has a crush on the teacher. I smile as I recline in my chair. "Alright class, which one of you can tell me how you can tell the difference between Buckeye and Chestnuts," Professor Peach asked us. Pan's arm shot up like a rocket as soon a she asked. "Buckeye lacks the barbs that Chestnuts do," Pan proclaimed. "Correct again Mr. Voskos. Yes, one of the biggest differences between edible and non-edible plants are usually the smaller differences. This will all be on necessary information for our outing next week, so if you can't tell the differences you might not survive it," Peach said with an off putting smile. The entire class continued like this; whenever Peach asked a question to the class, Pan would almost always answer it if it were about plants. His knowledge of the stuff is astounding. Once class ended Peach waved us off by telling us to prepare ourselves for the expedition. Pan was shaking with excitement. "I can't wait for next week guys. It's going to be so cool," He proclaimed as the three of us trudged along. Susanoo had, of course, gone off on his own.

He told us that he was going to go train, but that wasn't all that surprising. The three of us continued to walk on, Pan continuing to gush about the outing. "Somebody has a crush on the teacher," Ash whimsically said. "I don't have one. That is that big, ok maybe it is but so what," Pan said defensively. Pan continued to yammer on about how he totally did not have a crush on the prof. So it came to a surprise when he suddenly stopped talking and let out what I can only describe as a donkey with a sore throat. He began to point to what was causing this reaction. In front of us was professor Peach talking with Doctor Oobleck. I couldn't really see what was freaking him out with this, until Oobleck leaned in and kissed Peach. It was actually kind of cute, but any cuteness was kind of put off by Pans gasping sounds. Ash broke his noise by patting him on the back. "Better luck next time, Casanova, "she said as Pan slumped over in defeat. "Come on man chin up dude. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and they'll break up," Ash gave me a side eyed look at that, and in return I shrugged. "Y'know what mates, I'm not going to let this get me down. You wanna know why, because I have hope in romance, and now that Peach is out of reach I can concentrate on my real one true love Ran," Pan exclaimed as he struck a pose. Both Ash and I let out a sigh at that part. As we walked back into our room I began to think about Pan's love life for whatever reason.I really hope that Pan had an actual chance with Ran. Huh, Ran and Pan, how did I never see the rhyme in that. I realized that I had been lost in thought as I realized a life changing revelations, Ash was reading over Pans notes and copying them down while Pan was explaining things to her. "Most of the fruit in the nearby forests is poisonous in large enough doses, so when you find bushels of red berries you can eat a few but don't go crazy," He explained, "However if you do eat too much you can create a quick remedy by crushing the roots into a powder that you can then mix into a drink." Pan nonchalantly explained to her ash began to furiously copy down his notes. At the speed she was doing it at I was surprised her notebook hadn't caught on fire. "Hey Pan, I'll trade you my Oobleck notes for your Peach," I say presenting my notebook over towards him. As soon as he heard the word Oobleck and notes, his head shot over to me with a predatory look in his eyes, he knows all to well that I rock in Oobleck class. The moment I had blinked my notebook had been switched with his. "Thanks Mate," He said as he and Ash began to copy down what I had written.

Ash had finished copying down her copy when she started to do start writing them down again. "What are you doing that for?" I ask as I look over her shoulder. "I'm making a copy for Susanoo. That way he will have no choice but to give us his Port notes," she replied with a devilish grin plastered onto her face. I begin to snicker at her face with Pan soon joining in, and Ash began to laugh too until all three of us were just bellowing with laughter. "Ah that was a good one," Pan said as he wiped at his eye. We all nod at that. Ash did have a point, and that point was that it is crazy that Soos can stay awake through Ports lessons. I mean it is literally impossible for anyone to sit through the whole class without falling asleep at least once. I need to learn how he does that. After we had all calmed down, we began to chat as we continued to copy down each other notes. We lost track of our surroundings as around an half hour later, we finally noticed Susanoo was in the room baking. When we looked over towards him stirring a bowl of batter, he looked up at us and gave a short wave before he returned to his task. "How the fuck did we not notice you come in?" Ash asked. Susanoo once again looked up at us and responded. "You weren't paying attention," he said as he did what he was here to do. "Are you sure you weren't being stealthy Mate," Pan chuckled out. Soos now looking miffed, responded once again. "I slammed the door when I came in. At no time was I trying to be "stealthy" as you so lovingly put it," He replied with a soft glare at us. "One more question pal," I call out towards him. In response Soos let out a defeated sigh, "Fine if you must." "Cool, why are you baking a cake?" I ask as I fold my arms behind my bed. "It's for my sisters birthday. I bake her a chocolate cake every year," Soos replied with an indifferent gaze, which now that I think about might just be his regular expression. "So are you going to go see her then," Ash asked. "Yes," Susanoo replied without looking up from his work. "Can we come too," Pan asked excitedly. "No," Pan looked crestfallen at this revelation. I thumped his back hoping to lighten his mood. Unfortunately I hit him off his chair and into the desk. Ash burst out laughing at that while I proceeded to blush; I need to remember my own strength. "Hey Susanoo can we borrow your Port notes," Ash asked while wiping a tear from her eye. Pan looked over and nodded as he washed off his hands. He walked over and handed his notebook over Ash, and in exchange Ash handed him his copies of their notes. He raised his eyebrow at her. "We're a team, and that means we stick together," Ash said as she began to copy down his notes at breakneck speeds. We went on like that for a little while longer as I began to feel my eyelids getting heavy, and I walked over to my bed yawning all the while, and drowning out what the other guys were saying. The smell of chocolate cake let me know that I was going to have some sweet dreams.


End file.
